Superior Essex Launches PowerWise Fiber, Expanding its Suite of Cables Designed to Support PoE Applications

Atlanta, GA, February 1, 2016

Today’s buildings are smarter than ever before, relying on numerous intelligent devices to control our lighting, our climate, and our security. These intelligent environments require cabling systems that are just as capable and versatile. For these environments, Superior Essex is launching PowerWise™ Fiber, a premises optical fiber cable coupled with copper conductors to support Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) applications, including those with distances that exceed the standard 100m provided by category cables. Power-over-Ethernet is a method of distributing power and data to a device using communications cabling, and plays a critical role in smart buildings where numerous devices, such as Nest, intelligent LED lighting and security cameras, can be powered and controlled using a single cabling system. With the launch of this cable, Superior Essex now offers a complete Power-over-Ethernet cabling solution, with its PowerWise CAT 5e+ 4-pair PoE cable powering and controlling devices at distances of up to 100 meters, and its PowerWise Fiber cable supporting additional power and data transmission over greater lengths throughout an environment.

This initial PowerWise Fiber cable design consists of two (2) – 2 mm bend-resistant G.657.B3 single mode fiber simplex interconnect cables and two (2) – stranded 16 AWG copper conductors. The use of G.657.B3 fiber allows the cable to be installed in environments where the pathway may require a number of 90° turns, yet the attenuation loss will be the lowest of any other typical single mode fiber type. The two simplex interconnect cables allow direct and secure connection to LC or SC type mechanical connectors. The core is surrounded by strength yarns that provide the cable with the tensile strength to meet the distribution cable requirements of ANSI/ICEA S-83-596. The cable is UL Listed CL3R-OF, CMR-OF and FPLR-OF.

“Our customers required a small, flexible and durable cable for applications that exceeded the 100 meter reach limitation of Power-over-Ethernet and twisted-pair category cables,” says Dr. Paul Neveux, Director of Global Product Management for Premises Fiber products at Superior Essex. “We designed this composite power and fiber cable especially for security camera applications where the reach often exceeds 100 meters. In addition, using G.657.B3 single mode fiber assures that the signal will not be attenuated even with bend radii as small as 5 mm.”